Credit River Case

Martin V. Mahoney was a justice of the peace in Scott County, Minnesota in the 1960s.
The 1967/1968 Minnesota Legislative Manual states:

"Justices of the peace are elected for two-year terms in townships and
in cities and villages which do not have municipal courts. Justices of the
peace have jurisdiction over actions arising within a county when the
amount involved does not exceed $100 for civil cases, and when the
punishment or fine does not exceed $100 or three months'
imprisonment in criminal cases."
The Minnesota State Court System in 1968

Minnesota Supreme Court (court of last resort)

(hears appeals from the district courts; some matters can be brought directly)

District Court (court of general jurisdiction)

(has original jurisdiction in all civil and criminal matters; hears appeals from the courts
of limited jurisdiction.)

Courts of Limited Jurisdiction :

Probate
Municipal
Justice of the Peace

Because the decisions of the justice of the peace courts carry no mandatory authority
(that is, there are no lower courts that would have to follow them), they are not
published.

Jerome Daly was an attorney in Minnesota and also the defendant in an unlawful
detainer action in the justice of the peace court in Credit River Township (Scott County)
where Martin V. Mahoney was the justice of the peace. In this case, First National Bank
of Montgomery vs. Jerome Daly, the bank was seeking possession of property that it
had already foreclosed the mortgage on. The jury decided against the bank. The
landowner's defense had been that the bank had not lent him any actual money, but
had simply created credit on its books, and therefore, since nothing of value had been
advanced by the bank, it was not entitled to the property that had been given as
security for the loan. Although Daly did not ultimately prevail, this case has been
celebrated by many of those groups and individuals that practice "law on the edge" as

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 we call it in our Pathfinder to Law on the Edge: Sovereign Citizens, Common Law
Courts, Patriot Groups, Tax Protesters, et al..

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Credit River Case

Related litigation did produce published decisions from the Minnesota Supreme
Court. In Re Jerome Daly, 284 Minn.567, 171 N.W.2d 818 (1969), is excerpted below:
On July 11, 1969, Mr. Justice C. Donald Peterson, acting for the
Minnesota Supreme Court, directed Martin V. Mahoney, justice of the
peace of Credit River Township, Scott County, Minnesota, and Jerome
Daly, counsel for plaintiff in an action brought by one Leo Zurn against
one Roger D. Derrick and the Northwestern National Bank of
Minneapolis, to show cause why they should not be permanently
restrained from further proceedings in the justice court. In addition,
Justice Peterson ordered a stay of all further proceedings before the
justice of the peace pending final determination of the questions raised
by Northwestern National Bank's petition for writ of prohibition.

Although the stay order of Justice Peterson was served on the justice of
the peace and Mr. Daly on July 11, 1969, they intentionally and
deliberately disregarded it in this way: On July 14, 1969, the justice of
the peace, upon motion of Mr. Daly, entered findings of fact,
conclusions of law, and an order for judgment in favor of Zurn. In
response to our order of August 12, 1969, directing the justice of the
peace and Mr. Daly to show cause why they should not be held in
constructive contempt of the Supreme Court of Minnesota for this
conduct, Mr. Daly appeared personally in his own behalf before this
court on August 21. He advised the court that he had been authorized
to represent the justice of the peace in the proceedings. After noting
that he was making a special appearance, Mr. Daly, an attorney at law
admitted to practice in this state, acknowledged that both he and the
justice of the peace intentionally violated the order of Justice Peterson
because in their opinion neither this court nor Justice Peterson had
jurisdiction to issue it.

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Although the death of the justice of the peace on August 22, 1969, has
rendered the proceedings as against him moot, it is our judgment that
the conduct of Jerome Daly was contumacious. It is the order of this
court that he be temporarily suspended from the practice of law in the
courts of this state effective October 1, 1969.
Jerome Daly was subsequently disbarred. See In re Jerome Daly, 291 Minn. 488, 189
N.W.2d 176 (1971). In that decision, the court noted that:

respondent's persistent and continuing attacks on our national

monetary system can hardly be regarded as zealous advocacy or a
good-faith effort to test the validity of repeated decisions of courts of
record. For, as found by the referee, up to the time of his findings and
recommendations respondent had avoided payment of any Federal
income tax for 1965 and subsequent years on the asserted ground that
he has not received gold and silver coin and, therefore, had no earnings
that were taxable. Also, he has taken personal advantage of the system
he attacks by borrowing money from a bank to purchase lakeside
property, only to subsequently defeat the bank's repossession after
mortgage foreclosure by taking the position that the bank's extension
of credit was unlawful, obligating him neither to pay the debt nor to
surrender possession following expiration of the time to redeem. As
detailed in the referee's finding, we regard the tactics employed by
respondent in the unlawful detainer proceedings before the justice of
the peace as not only unprofessional but reprehensible.

The misconduct found by the referee, and demonstrated by

respondent's oral declarations before this court in violation of the
Canons of Professional Ethics, reflects professional irresponsibility to
such a degree as to render respondent totally unfit to continue to
discharge the duties of an attorney.
All proceedings in the justice court in the underlying matter were declared a nullity
in Zurn v. Northwestern National Bank, 284 Minn. 573, 170 N.W.2d 600 (1969). The
same happened in another case brought by Jerome Daly, Daly v. Savage State Bank,
285 Minn. 503, 171 N.W.2d 218 (1969).

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 These cases were recently cited in Sneed v. Chase Home Fin. LLC, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
46536, 2007 WL 1851674 (S.D. Cal. June 26, 2007). The court noted the frivolous nature
of the plaintiff's argument relying on these cases and went on to say:

Furthermore, the Minnesota cases cited by Plaintiff are not only

unreported, but they have been vacated by the Minnesota Supreme
Court in reported decisions. See In re Daly, 284 Minn. 567, 171 N.W.2d
818; Zurn v. Northwestern Nat. Bank of Minneapolis, 170 N.W.2d 600,
284 Minn. 573 (Minn. 1969); Daly v. Savage State Bank, 171 N.W.2d 218,
218, 285 Minn. 503, 503 (Minn. 1969). Plaintiff is hereby admonished
she must not cite any decision under which Justice Martin Mahoney
purported to question the validity of federal currency or the
Constitutionality of the Federal Reserve Act, nor may she cite any
opinion or decision as authoritative which no longer has authoritative
status.
Martin Vincent Mahoney was born in Minnesota on February 22, 1915 and died August
22, 1969 in Scott County Minnesota. Jerome Daly was born July 11, 1926 in Minnesota
and died March 23, 1996 in Martinez, California.

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